Archive for month: May, 2010

I’ve told you about the bamboo that highlights my morning tea time. Lately there’s been a pair of northern cardinals living in the bougainvillea growing outside my living room windows. They’re a matched set, a male and female, and whenever they appear, they bring a joyful mindfulness to my day, reminding me that life is good. I used to think they mate for life (like me) but found out that it’s more likely just for one season. I also learned that during the wooing process the male will not only sing to the female, but he’ll bring her seeds and feed them to her beak-to-beak. I’m still waiting to see that action (and I don’t mean from Tom).

Recently a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant contacted the Institute and told us about a subcontractor she’d hired. After completing the project, the subcontractor proceeded to list herself on several different social media sites as being associated with the contracting CLNC consultant. The subcontractor then used the contracting CLNC consultant’s “LinkedIn” profile and network to contact other parties announcing her association with the contracting CLNC consultant and marketing her availability to subcontract.

I’m not a Mac user. I do think they’re wonderful computers but like anyone who likes a challenge, I live in a Microsoft Windows world. I’ve always wondered how Mac users who travel get along in a predominately Windows world? After all, most hotel business centers usually have low-end, Windows-based desktop computers (to keep costs down). What happens to Mac users? Do they have to be bilingual and speak two computing languages? Or, is this Windows predominance what forces them to carry an Apple laptop with them every time they leave home (like one of our CLNC Mentors who carries her slick Mac with her on every road trip we make)?

I’ve got a confession to make. I’m not hooked on Lost. I don’t know what “frack” means and I’ve never watched American Idol. I used to keep my television in my closet (it was a 12″ black and white) and it wasn’t out of shame – I just didn’t watch TV. Even though we now have one of those state-of-the-art flat screen, surround-sound systems (ask Tom for details), I still don’t watch TV. I will also confess there are a couple of exceptions. I set aside an evening for each of the Grammys, Golden Globes, Super Bowl (for Tom) and the Academy Awards as sacrosanct (don’t call me, I won’t answer). But the other 361 days of the year, my TV is off. My Google homepage tells me the news headlines and Tom keeps me in the loop. If the world was going to come to an end, my executive team would notify me and ask me to release the Institute employees early so they can go home and prepare (being on the Gulf Coast, I’ve even gotten tsunami warnings). In other words, TV doesn’t play a role in my life – it’s not an early warning system and it’s not a distraction.

What are you waiting for before you start your career and business as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant? In this video Doris Huegel, RN, CLNC shares that after attending the CLNC 6-Day Certification Program, she didn’t even wait to unpack her bags before marketing herself to an attorney-prospect near her hometown in rural Pennsylvania. Her enthusiasm and initiative secured that first case for her. Congratulations Doris for going for it.

I’ve blogged about ways to extend the life of the battery in that laptop you’ve purchased for your legal nurse consulting business. I’ve also blogged about the need for every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant to have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) on every computer and expensive electronic device in your home. I’ve even discussed the ways that a laptop dock can extend your workspace into multiple monitors and keep you from having to constantly plug and unplug peripheral equipment.

Nurses have the strength of enterprise. Think about all the creative, enterprising ways you’ve worked around administration, the doctors, the insurance companies – all on behalf of your patients. To satisfy everybody you have to be enterprising. But being enterprising isn’t just about satisfying patients, doctors and administration. It’s about being enterprising in the pursuit of your career and professional advancement. You must be as enterprising as the CEO of a successful business.

Happy International Nurses Day! And, happy birthday to Florence Nightingale – today, May 12, is her birthday. She laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment, in 1860, of her nursing school at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London, the first secular nursing school in the world. The annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.

Every CLNC consultant using social media to market your Certified Legal Nurse Consulting business, raise your left hand (keeping your right hand on your mouse). That’s terrific! I know a lot of you participate and interact regularly with Vickie on Facebook and Twitter. I also know that Facebook and Twitter can be semi-frustrating if you’re using them directly through a web browser instead of an application like TweetDeck or HootSuite. Why frustrating? Because you need to refresh the page on a regular basis to see the updates.

Hi Vickie, I just had to tell you the great news. I just finished my taxes and I am happy, no make that thrilled, no make that “over the moon with joy” to tell you that I earned more than $100,000.00. I went ahead and incorporated and named my CLNC business when the work started coming in faster than I could keep up. I just keep working hard trying to keep up with all of the work and make sure that I still put out top-quality work product. I was so happy when one of my attorney-clients forwarded my information to another law firm. I did a case for them and they were so happy with the “excellent CLNC work product” that I provided that they immediately forwarded another case to me.